


Full Circle

by HuntressFirefall



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Domestic Fluff, Flashbacks, M/M, Post-Canon, Pre-Canon, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-19
Updated: 2018-08-19
Packaged: 2019-06-29 20:53:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15737151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HuntressFirefall/pseuds/HuntressFirefall
Summary: Victor Nikiforov finds out that he has known of Yuri Katsuki's existence much longer than he originally thought.





	Full Circle

**Author's Note:**

> This story was intended to be my piece for the Ice Speculation YOI zine. But since I didn't make the cut, I decided to share it anyway. :)

Yuri had to laugh at the irony of the day's events. Just a bit less than a year prior, Victor had shown up on his doorstep unannounced, and a few days later a mountain of boxes arrived at the onsen containing what appeared to amount to just about all of Victor's lifelong personal possessions. Today, the situation was reversed: It was Yuri's pile of boxes that he, Victor, Yurio and Georgi had rented a moving van to pick up from the shipping company, along with all of Victor's things that he'd sent back from Japan.

At first Yuri hadn't planned to bring much at all. Most of the boxes that he'd shipped back from Detroit upon moving home had been things accumulated there: Skating magazines, a gaming console he'd been given when a rinkmate upgraded theirs, books he'd bought at the used book store that he had every intention of reading someday and as such had decided to keep, clothes he'd bought over the course of his five years in the US, and a few random anime and Pokemon-related items he'd purchased because he just really wanted to bring himself a bit closer to home. They were all things he was pretty sure he didn't really need, so when he'd been packing with Victor's help before his coach and now fiancé had headed home to make preparations for his arrival he'd left most of the boxes set aside in his room, opened to ascertain their contents but nothing more as he sealed up the boxes that were making the trip to Russia.

“What about all these?” Victor had asked, peering into one by pulling the flap back and finding an entire box filled with full sets of manga volumes and well-worn paperback books.

“You said your place isn't exceptionally big, so I didn't want to bring too much,” Yuri had replied.

Victor continued to look through the boxes, careful not to disturb the contents but with great interest. “But these are all things that mean something to you, yes? Things you love. They must be important if you shipped all these back home from Detroit.”

“I don't know... I'd like to take them but I can't afford to ship too much, and I don't want to take up all your space,” Yuri said.

“Don't worry about the expense, I'm shipping it all back with my things anyway so it will be less expensive if we combine everything. Bring whatever you want. If it's important to you then it's important to me that you have it.”

The debate had been short-lived, with Yuri relenting and adding the extra six boxes to the pile he'd sent forward with Victor's. He still had far less than the Russian, with most of it being reading materials and clothing and certainly no furniture, but he still felt a bit awkward about it all as they brought everything in. Victor directed Yuri and Georgi to put Yuri's boxes in a spare room that Victor had cleaned out in the few weeks between his departing Japan and returning to Russia, filling it up quickly once the boxes were added to the luggage Yuri had brought when he'd arrived shortly after Japanese Nationals.

Once Victor had treated Yurio and Georgi to dinner as a thank you for their help and they'd taken their leave, both he and Yuri began to sort through the boxes they'd brought back. Victor had disappeared into the bedroom after opening one box that was filled with various things he'd taken with him to Japan, things that Yuri had wondered why he'd bothered with: Framed photos, some of his medals from various competitions – he kept the most important ones, his five World Championships and his Olympic gold medal from the 2014 Sochi Olympics, on a shelf in the bedroom – all things that Yuri was pretty sure he would likely have left behind if it were him. He'd noticed that Victor seemed to cling to things of sentimental value, a quality that Yuri didn't seem to share to the same degree.

Yuri finished placing the last of his books in a brand new bookshelf that Victor had bought for him, looking around the room as he collapsed the now empty shipping box. The walls were lined with display and book cases, and before long Yuri found himself intrigued enough to get up from the floor and wander slowly around the smallish room, reading the spines of the books. Most were in Russian, but there were occasional ones in English, the currency the prices were in indicating the country they were bought in during Victor's travels. Yuri had thought he knew a lot about Victor, but found himself discovering more as he took in the wide range of topics and genres the books whose titles he could read covered.

He moved on then to a display case that appeared to be home to gifts Victor had received from fans. The inside back and side walls of the case were covered with birthday cards in different languages, fan-made posters, and portraits including several in anime style, signed in Japanese by the artists. The shelves were full of tokens of affection from around the world: handmade dolls of Victor, one impressive sculpture someone from France had made, necklaces and bracelets with charms representing different countries and other charms representing skating-related items. The top three shelves were packed to the brim with stuffed animals, the notes from the fans who gave them still attached. As his eyes scanned the top shelf and neared the end, Yuri was about to turn back to his next box, until one plushie in particular caught his eye. At first, it was only because it was one of his favorite Pokemon, an Eevee. He'd had one like it when he was younger, but as he'd been preparing to move to Detroit he'd packed up a bunch of his plushies and given them to Yuko, who had just found out she was pregnant before he'd left, for her baby (or, as it turned out, her three babies). But as he moved closer and read the tag, a memory was sparked in his mind...

“Looking at all my sentimental clutter, are you?”

Victor's voice startled Yuri out of his thoughts and he nearly jumped out of his skin, prompting Victor to laugh. “Someday you'll stop being so jumpy,” he teased.

“I just didn't hear you come in,” Yuri said. “But yeah, I was just looking at everything. I never really kept anything fans gave me, not that I ever got much. I'd pick a plushie out from a pile I'd get but usually we'd donate them to hospitals. I'd get fan mail but nothing like this.”

Victor came over to the display case, his eyes scanning its contents. “These are things that meant something to me for one reason or another. A particular competition that I had good memories from, or because the person that made it spent a lot of time on it and it touched me greatly. I'm not able to keep everything either, but sometimes there are things that make a place in your heart for whatever reason. When I'd started to feel lost and lacking inspiration, I'd come in here and remember that there are people who are inspired by me, and it would help. But I didn't fully regain my own inspiration until you.”

Yuri was quiet for a few moments then, his eyes being drawn back to the Eevee in the right-hand corner of the top shelf. “Do you remember anything about that one? The Pokemon. It's called an Eevee.”

Victor broke into a fond, soft grin then. “I most certainly do.”

 

* * *

 

**Ten Years Earlier – Junior World Championships – Fukuoka, Japan**

At 18 years old, Victor Nikiforov had just set the path of his life in stone.

As he stood in the middle of the rink in the Japanese city of Fukuoka, the first time he'd ever been to the country, the stuffed animals and flowers rained down onto the ice. He bowed to each side of the arena in turn, just as he'd always been told to as the audience went insane. He'd won his second Junior World Championship, this time with something none of the other junior men in the final group had done – a flawless quad toe loop, something Yakov had told him expressly _not_ to do yet, for no good reason other than he didn't want his prodigy to show off, especially since with the field he was up against, it hadn't been needed. But this was Victor's final Junior Worlds – he'd be going into Seniors in the coming season, after being held back by Yakov until he'd turned 18.

Victor stayed at center ice until the flower boys and girls – novices and juniors from the skating club in Fukuoka and from surrounding areas – cleared the ice enough for him to skate toward the kiss and cry safely. He headed back, gliding slowly as he worked on catching his breath. He kept his eyes cast downward, using the convenient excuse that he was watching his footing as the younger skaters worked on picking up all the toys and flowers to not look at Yakov, who would most certainly be fuming. Not, of course, that there was anything unusual about that. He was happy he was going into Seniors next season; maybe Yakov would stop treating him like a baby, finally.

Victor stepped off the ice to find Lilia, Yakov's then-wife, waiting for him with his skate guards. He put them on, then returned the double cheek air-kisses she gave him. Yakov was sitting on the bench in the kiss and cry as she walked over with him; the only way he could tell at the moment that Yakov was angry was that he only received a curt nod of acknowledgment, the shoulder-pat that indicated his coach was pleased absent. Ah well, he'd deal with it later.

As the judges took their time with the marks the flower kids brought the last of the bouquets and stuffed animals, piling them up to the side of the bench. Victor usually didn't bother to keep the plushies thrown on the ice unless they were poodles; those were the priority, but outside Russia there usually weren't many. As he turned to look at the monitor in front of him showing replays of his quad, he heard a squeak and a thump that startled him.

He looked up to see a small Japanese boy, one of the flower kids, having fallen after tripping on his toepick in a seam in the padded floor. He seemed to be coming from the direction of the flower kids' bench rather than off the ice. The boy stood up, face bright red, and snatched up what appeared to be a Pokemon of some sort, a tag hanging from a ribbon tied around its neck. The chaperon of the flower kids was calling to him in Japanese, but he appeared to disobey and walked quickly over to Victor, big brown eyes full of a mixture of purpose and nervousness as he held the plushie out to him with shaky hands.

“For you,” the boy said shyly. Victor had just enough time to realize that the slight frame of the boy belied his age; now that he was near, he could see the boy was closer to fourteen than what Victor thought had been a ten-year-old novice.

Victor took the plushie with a smile, which made the boy blush more and return it with a smile of his own. “Thank you... ar... arigato?” Victor had heard the Japanese word for “thank you” said many times over the course of their time there, and hoped he got it right. The boy smiled even more brightly, gave a bow of his head, then turned as the chaperon called to him in a sharper tone. Before Victor could say anything else the boy was gone, his focus then pulled to the scoreboard as the marks indicating he'd won the gold flashed up onto the screen.

The next afternoon at the exhibitions, he would try to catch the boy again but it appeared he had already left, as he didn't appear during the closing ceremonies when the children lined up at center ice. Victor had wanted to make sure the boy hadn't hurt himself when he'd tripped, and hoped that wasn't the reason for his absence. He wasn't quite sure why he was still concerned, but even so, it stayed in the back of his mind. If only he'd been able to get his name.

Of the mountain of plushies Victor received, he only chose to keep the one from the sweet Japanese boy who'd been so intent on giving it to him he'd managed to embarrass himself doing so. As he held onto it on the plane, using it to prop up his arm since Yakov had taken possession of the armrest between their seats, he saw for the first time that the tag attached to the ribbon had flipped over. He'd only noticed the Japanese writing on it before, but now observed that there was also a shakily-written English translation on the back. Just four words: “You are my Idol.” Sadly, the boy had written his name in Japanese, and Victor now had no one to ask what it said.

But the English words touched him deeply. Yes, this would be one he would keep.

 

* * *

 

“So yeah, I just had to keep it after that. He was adorable and... Yuri?”

Victor had taken the plushie out of the case as he spoke, turning it over in his hands and looking at it after not having done so for many years. He'd told the story in fond tone, the memories bringing a smile to his face. But when he'd looked up, intending to hand it to Yuri to look at, he found his fiancé wiping at his eyes through a soft smile of his own.

“What is it?” Victor asked, concerned.

“You... you kept it. All this time... you kept it. You remembered.”

“Yes, I did. I didn't think it would touch you so deeply, it's just a...”

Victor's words cut off as he looked down at the tag, the side written in English facing upward. His eyes went down to the Kanji that represented the boy's name.

He suddenly realized he could now read it, because he'd seen it quite a lot in the last ten months.

_Katsuki Yuri._

Victor felt the lump in his throat form immediately as he looked up at Yuri, who was still sniffling and wiping at his tears.

“It was you. Oh my god... it was _you,_ ” Victor said as the realization settled onto him fully. “Oh Yuri...” He set the plushie down carefully on the shelf once more – the Eevee, which he now remembered Yuri saying was his favorite Pokemon. The memories of the stickers on the bed frame in Yuri's childhood room filled his mind, reminding him that when he'd seen them, he'd actually thought of the plushie that he'd left behind in Russia, considering it too precious to take a chance with losing. Stepping forward, he wrapped his arms around Yuri, the other immediately returning it and burying his face in Victor's shoulder.

“I never made the connection until now,” Victor said, sniffling himself now as he nuzzled the top of Yuri's head, one hand rubbing his back gently. “I just... I just remembered how important it seemed to the boy to give it to me, and then when I saw the tag, I realized it was from him and not something that had been thrown on the ice. Something just... made me want to keep it. I guess I liked feeling like I was important to someone other than Yakov... it was probably the first time anyone had ever said anything like that to me in any way.”

Yuri looked up at Victor, smiling again. “I almost got in trouble for doing that... but it was worth it...”

 

* * *

   
**Ten Years Earlier**

After coming in fourth at Japanese Junior Nationals, the last place Yuri Katsuki wanted to be was anywhere near the Junior World Championships. He was devastated, angry with himself for just missing the podium. He'd wanted to make it there more than anything else he'd ever strived for up to that point, but not for the reason all the other skaters wanted to.

No, Yuri was more devastated at the fact that he'd missed his chance to skate on the same ice as his idol, the reigning Junior World Champion, Victor Nikiforov of Russia. Considered to be the next superstar of the skating world, Yuri had been following the graceful, silver-haired boy's career since he'd made his Junior Worlds debut the year before and won with his first try. Yuri wanted to be just like him, and had been working so hard to skate well enough to do so, to maybe even make it all the way to the final flight of skaters. Instead, he'd tried _too_ hard. He'd been _too_ worried about making the podium, and as a result didn't focus as well as he could have. He'd made it to the final flight of skaters, but he'd missed his two best jumps and third place by four points because of it, and had no one to blame but himself.

So when the JSF offered up the chance to be a flower boy, one of the kids who skated out after every competitor to pick up the flowers and gifts thrown onto the ice for the skaters, his first impulse was to decline. He'd decided he just really wanted to wallow in his own sorrows. But his sister Mari, who supported his skating ambitions wholeheartedly, told him in her usual blunt way to get over it and stop feeling sorry for himself. If he wanted to meet his idol, he had the chance to do it without having to worry about competing. It was a perfect chance, she said, and he'd be stupid to turn it down.

Of course, Mari was right, so Yuri accepted the volunteer flower boy position and turned his focus to something else: Getting the perfect gift to give to Victor. It wasn't difficult at all to decide what it would be: he would get the gorgeous Eevee plushie he'd always wanted for himself, but decided it suited Victor better. It had been difficult saving up his allowance – he'd had to stop himself from buying a skating magazine that Victor was in one day when he was out with Mari, so intent was he on making sure he had enough money. (Mari ended up buying it for him and giving it to him a month after Junior Worlds; she wanted him to understand the purpose of sacrificing something for oneself to do good for someone else, and it was a good lesson, obviously.)

One week before he was set to leave for Fukuoka with his rinkmate who had also been chosen, he went to the anime store in downtown Hasetsu and bought the coveted Eevee. He had one that was quite similar, but older; the new one was much more detailed, beautiful, just like Victor himself, which made it perfect for him. (His 14-year-old fanboy self was convinced of this, of course.)

He spent most of the week practicing writing his message for the gift tag in English. It was only four words, but he wanted it to be perfect. He practiced in a notebook, writing the phrase over and over until he was happy with the look of the letters. He didn't know too much English, so he'd asked his friend who was better at it to write out the four words, saying it was the answer to one of his homework questions because otherwise he'd probably be laughed at if he revealed the real reason he needed it.

The night before he left for Fukuoka, he was finally satisfied with how the words looked and he worked carefully on the tag he would then tie to the Eevee's neck with a silver ribbon (just like Victor's hair). As he finished the English side of the tag, however, he was suddenly hit with a terrible realization: He'd forgotten to ask his friend to show him how his name was written in English. Said friend was already in bed for the night, he was certain, so it was too late now. Mari was in bed too, and she'd be mad if he woke her up because she was the one taking him and his rinkmate on the hour-long drive to Fukuoka in the morning. He also knew that online translators were terrible, and most often wrong, especially with Japanese. With a sigh of resignation, Yuri signed his name in Kanji on the English side of the tag, wrote the same message all in Japanese on the other side, and tied it to the Eevee's neck. It would have to do. Maybe Victor would know someone who could tell him what it said. After all, he was friends with all the skaters, he had to be. How could everyone _not_ love him?

Yuri and his rinkmate were only scheduled to be flower boys for one day, but luckily enough their duties included the Junior Men's Long Program. They were allowed to watch the practices, so the group of young skaters sat on one side of the rink, a few rows up from the boards. Yuri took it all in, seeing many skaters that he'd never known about before because not all of them got shown on television. He got more and more restless however – the practice groups were in order of the rankings after the short program, which meant Victor's group was last, so the wait felt like forever as each group got 55 minutes on the ice.

When Victor's group came out, Yuri made his way right down to the boards. He was only a bit more than head and shoulders over them; he hadn't hit his growth spurt yet and was constantly (annoyingly) mistaken for a novice skater due to his height and slight frame. He stayed there, hoping he didn't get shooed away by one of the volunteer ushers, and watched, mesmerized, as Victor Nikiforov glided over the ice before him like a dream. His silver hair tied up in a messy bun, the Russian boy – just eighteen now, but he seemed much older due to his commanding presence on the ice, even in practice – skated as if there were no other boys on the ice but him. He expertly skimmed around the other bodies in his way as he ran through his long program, marking out where the jumps were as he conserved his energy for the actual competition which was just a few hours away. A few times, Victor skated within arm's length of Yuri as he flew by, ice blue eyes focused on his work, paying no attention at all to anyone watching.

When the practice ended, Yuri tried to run over to the opening where the skaters were heading to the backstage area, hoping he'd have a few minutes as Victor signed autographs to catch up to him. But to his and all the fans' disappointment, Victor's coach Yakov kept him from speaking to the fans. Victor seemed sad about it too, giving a little wave of apology to those gathered as he walked into the shelter of the warmup rooms.

His original plan upended, Yuri knew he only had one more chance: When Victor was finished skating his long program. He would bring the Eevee with him onto the ice (he'd hide it under his jacket; it was a good thing he had to wear a size larger right now because he was taller than he was big around) and then pretend he'd picked it up from the ice, and give it to Victor in the kiss and cry. Yes, that would work.

The time between the practice and the competition took forever, the competition groups also seeming endless. Going out onto the ice after each skater gave Yuri a good idea of how much time he needed to make sure he got to Victor though. He knew if he stayed over in one of the two corners by the exit to the kiss and cry, he'd make it back over just as Victor was coming off the ice, and give the Eevee to him. It was simple... or should be, right?

Finally Victor skated, the final competitor in the entire competition because he was in first place after the short program. Yuri sat on the bench just off to the left of the kiss and cry with the other kids, mesmerized once again by Victor's full-out competition skating. He floated over the ice, his jumps effortless as if he had wings to carry him. And then, right in front of the bench where they were sitting, Victor landed his first-ever quad, a toe-loop. Yuri had gotten to see it _right in front of him!_ How amazing was that? He jumped up and yelled, applauding loudly; he got scolded by the chaperon for not being respectful, but it was totally worth it.

As soon as Victor finished, Yuri immediately recognized a possible blip in his plan: The ice was literally blanketed in gifts. Flowers, plushies, some people even throwing their banners they'd made, Russian flags. He actually had more to pick up than he'd anticipated, but that made it easier to slip the Eevee out of his jacket. By the time his arms were laden with as much as he could carry Victor was already getting off the ice, his choreographer Lilia helping him with his skate guards. Yuri went to the designated spot where the kids had been told to drop all the gifts for the staff to take backstage for Victor to sort out later. But if he left his gift with these, Victor wouldn't pay attention. He'd never see it.

As he dutifully followed the other kids back to the bench Yuri looked over to see Victor sitting with Yakov and Lilia, the judges taking longer than usual because of his unexpected quad. (Victor did love surprising people.) _This is my only chance,_ Yuri thought to himself; in that moment, despite not having guards on his own skates, he began to trot as quickly as he dared over to the kiss and cry, which he knew he wasn't allowed to do. He was almost there when suddenly, he nearly faceplanted when his toepick caught a seam in the padding on the floor meant to protect the skaters' blades, landing on one knee, breath pushed out of him with an odd squeaky sound. He rose quickly and snatched up the Eevee, ignoring the calls of the chaperon as he walked quickly over to Victor. He nearly lost his composure as those ice blue eyes met his own, but Victor seemed to be making a point of looking straight at him. There was so much Yuri wanted to say, but there was no time and his English was sparse at best. He held out the Eevee and said the first thing he could think of: “For you.”

Victor smiled and said “Thank you” back in English, then surprised Yuri as he stumbled over the Japanese word, “arigato”. Even hearing Victor say one word of Japanese made Yuri feel like he was going to take off and fly to the moon. He felt the flush over his face as he grinned, giving a bow of his head; when he heard the chaperon's voice in a tone that said “I am angry and you're lucky I have to be proper in front of these people” he turned and ran back to the bench as quickly as he could on unguarded blades, taking care not to fall again. Just as he sat down and put on his guards, Victor was announced the winner; the cheers and commotion of the crowd distracted the chaperon enough that she never did end up scolding Yuri further.

Yuri tried to talk Mari into staying for the exhibitions the next day, but she couldn't afford more than one day off from the onsen. She did feel pretty bad about it though, and promised to take Yuri to see any tour Victor was in that came to Japan, even if it was all the way in Tokyo. Yuri knew Mari would always keep her promises, so it made him feel better as they set off for home the next morning. A month later Mari made good on her promise, taking Yuri to both Tokyo and Osaka to see Victor as a special guest performance on the current Japanese National Champion's skating tour, and surprising him with the magazine he'd sacrificed to buy that all-important Eevee.

 

* * *

 

“And now here we are,” Victor said, his voice a bit teary as well as he leaned back from cuddling Yuri close, with Yuri raising his head to look at him through puffy eyes once he'd finished his own story. With another soft smile Victor raised his right hand, the gold ring on his ring finger catching the light of the lamp. “It seems you're still obsessed with giving me gifts.”

“Well it seems like you can never stop thinking about me, so we're even,” Yuri said with a smirk. “Not to mention I now have something to remind you of when you tease me about not remembering the Sochi banquet.”

Victor laughed. “True, true. But I think this just proves that we're meant to be together.”

Yuri's face flushed pink again at that, on top of the blush that had colored his cheeks and nose from his happy tears. “I guess it does,” he replied.

“Come on, it's late,” Victor said, wrapping an arm around Yuri's shoulders. “Let's wind down with some tea. And maybe you can tell me more about just how big of a fan you really are.”

Yuri laughed at that as they headed out to the kitchen. “I would think an engagement ring would be proof enough.”

Victor grinned and gave Yuri's shoulders a squeeze. “Come to think of it... you're right,” he replied.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading :)


End file.
